Rick Perry vs World

08 December 2005

Strayhorn to switch?

"Comptroller won't say if she's behind survey of support for party switch" reads the sub-headline to Wayne Slater's blockbuster on Strayhorn.

Some Texans have received calls from a polling company asking whether they would support Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn for governor if she ran as an independent rather than as a Republican.

Gov. Rick Perry's campaign denies it is sponsoring the poll. Mrs. Strayhorn's campaign won't say.

"We don't discuss our polls," said Strayhorn spokesman Mark Sanders. "We are regularly in the field testing voter attitudes."

Mrs. Strayhorn has announced that she will challenge Mr. Perry in the March 7 GOP primary. Recent polls indicate she trails the incumbent more than 2-to-1.

In pursuit of the nomination, Mrs. Strayhorn has gotten a large number of campaign contributions from typically Democratic sources, such as trial lawyers.

She plans a fundraiser next week in Austin with a host committee that includes former Democratic Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes and Houston attorney Arthur Schecter, who served as U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas under President Bill Clinton.

...

According to a Strayhorn supporter from Houston, some backers have tried in recent weeks to encourage her to leave the GOP and run as an independent. One backer said she probably would lose a race against Mr. Perry in the GOP primary but would fare better as an independent on the November general election ballot.

As an independent, Mrs. Strayhorn would have to collect 45,000 signatures from registered voters who skipped the primaries to qualify for the ballot. Singer Kinky Friedman plans to try to get on the ballot as an independent.

It seems to me that if Strayhorn's campaign didn't do this poll, they would have at the very least indicated off the record to Slater that they weren't behind it. You wouldn't want to chance having a story like this come out if you could help it.

Wow. Imagine a Perry v. Bell/Gammage v. Strayhorn v. Friedman general election race. What a free-for-all, but one that is still pretty likely to be won by Perry, because he has the largest base.

Posted by Evan @ 12/08/05 06:39 AM | Comments (1)

Ben Barnes helping raise money for Strayhorn

the AP:

In an ongoing effort to link Republican rival Carole Keeton Strayhorn to leading Democrats, Gov. Rick Perry's campaign on Wednesday chided her for having former Democratic Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes help host one of her fundraisers.

Barnes is among more than 100 people listed on a "host committee" for a Strayhorn fundraiser next week at an Austin home.

Strayhorn's son is White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan who has called Ben Barnes part of "a coordinated attack by John Kerry and his surrogates on the president."

I'm not sure what they were thinking. Doesn't seem like the money will be worth the bad publicity for her.

This is the second time Barnes has surfaced in this cycle's GOP primary. Last year, there were rumors that Ben Barnes was going to head up a group called "Democrats for Hutchison."

Posted by Evan @ 12/08/05 06:32 AM | Comments (0)

Shorts

1. Kinky Friedman interview by Bookslut. Always entertaining.

2. John Moritz's FWST take on the latest Texas poll, featuring this quote:

"Once Kinky is on the ballot, it becomes a two-candidate race -- us versus Perry," spokeswoman Laura Stromberg said.

Amusing. Smart, of course, because Friedman is going to be competing with Chris Bell. His best shot at winning (assuming he's on the ballot, that ever-present caveat) means he has to minimize the Democrat's total.

3. Chris Bell got some good press around the state for blasting Perry and the Texas Enterprise Fund.

4. Gardner Selby's latest Statesman column states the obvious: Perry is "likely" to be re-elected. I think the well was a little dry when he was looking for material this week.

5. Comptroller Carole Strayhorn got some good press by travelling to Amarillo to blast the governor. It seems like a good strategy for Strayhorn would be to spend more time outside DFW, Houston, SA, and Austin and focus on local issues. I'm surprised that she hasn't done that to this point.

Posted by Evan @ 12/08/05 06:24 AM | Comments (0)

07 December 2005

More Texas Poll

'06 GOV GOP Primary Matchup
Now 9/05
Perry 55% 46%
Strayhorn 24 28
Undec/Oth 21 26

'06 GOV Dem Primary Matchup
Now 9/05
Bell 23% 10%
Alvarado 14 8
Undec/Oth* 63 78

General Election Matchups
Perry 46%
Bell 25
Friedman 13
Undec/Oth 16

Strayhorn 42%
Bell 24
Friedman 13
Undec/Oth 21

Perry As Gov.
Approve 49%
Disapprove 37

After Katrina and Rita, Perry's job approval went up. That's normal after an emergency, but Governor Perry also did a good job during those crises.

It's a little surprising that Strayhorn is running behind Perry in general election matchups.

Posted by Evan @ 12/07/05 06:44 PM | Comments (0)

06 December 2005

Texas poll writeups

Clay Robison has the Chronicle's take on the Texas poll.

Posted by Evan @ 12/06/05 03:10 AM | Comments (0)

Two primaries!

Bob Gammage is running for governor, according to the Statesman. He and Chris Bell will duke it out for the right to be the Democratic nominee to face Rick Perry or Carole Strayhorn.

Bell's spokesman labelled Gammage "cut and run Bob." This could be fun.

But I still think Perry -- Strayhorn will be more fun.

Posted by Evan @ 12/06/05 03:02 AM | Comments (1)

05 December 2005

New Texas poll gubernatorial numbers

Via QR, these are the Texas poll numbers that tomorrow's newspapers will have articles on.

Republican primary
Perry--55%
Strayhorn--24%

General Election
Perry -- 45%
Bell-- 25%
Friedman -- 13%

I have a final tomorrow, so you will have to do without my analysis.

UPDATE: Chris Bell's blog has the GOP primary numbers at Perry 65, Strayhorn 24, and undecided 11. I don't know if Bell's staff made the mistake or if Kronberg made the mistake. Via BOR.

Posted by Evan @ 12/05/05 06:21 PM | Comments (0)

04 December 2005

Important Dates

December 3 -- Filing period began for primaries.
December 31 -- End of campaign finance period. Last day to contribute for upcoming report.
January 2 -- Filing deadline for the Republican and Democratic primaries
January 17th -- Campaign finance filing deadline for state races
January 31 -- Campaign finance filing deadline for federal races

I think I got all those right. Any that I'm missing?

Posted by Evan @ 12/04/05 03:11 PM | Comments (0)

03 December 2005

Tony Sanchez still thinking about running

Selby posts that Tony Sanchez is still thinking about running for governor in 2006.

A brief tour through a few Democratic blogs seems to suggest that they don't think Sanchez would win the nomination. I'm not so sure. If Sanchez entered the race, I think he'd be a formidable candidate. He can immediately self-finance his campaign into respectability. He'd certainly have the resources to tear down his opponents and run positive pieces on himself. There are lots of folks in the party who have already committed to Chris Bell, but there are lots of Democrats who haven't warmed to Bell, as evidenced by the Bob Gammage trial balloon. Bell's biggest problem is that he wasn't able to raise money, last time candidates were required to report fundraising (mid-July). We'll find out whether Bell has increased his fundraising rate on or before January 17th, which is the next filing deadline for fundraising.

Posted by Evan @ 12/03/05 07:44 PM | Comments (2)

02 December 2005

One year anniversary

One year ago this blog began. Thanks to everyone for stopping by, and particularly those who link to me. My number one linker in the past year is Eileen at In the Pink Texas, so many thanks to the Pink Lady for that. Also thanks to those who contribute articles, story ideas, gossip, and comment on what an idiot I am. You're all appreciated.

Muchas gracias to Chris and Kevin for the site, images, bandwidth and all else.

Since it's the one year anniversary, I decided to update the bio page. The current version reflects on how the blog started and its evolution from there, while mentioning a few facts about me as well.

I always love to hear from the people that drop by this blog, so I'd be pleased if you left a comment or emailed me at perryvsworld-at-gmail-dot-com.

UPDATE: I went back and looked at my first real post. My comment still rings true:

If the race comes down to Perry and Strayhorn, Strayhorn will be a dogged opponent for Perry. She has criticized him repeatedly for the past few years, earning positive stories and editorials in the major state newspapers.

But much of Strayhorn's criticisms have focused on not spending enough money on education, health care, etc. Is this a winning formula [in a Republican primary]? I doubt it.

Posted by Evan @ 12/02/05 11:59 PM | Comments (1)

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